Thalia Rhea My Personal Nurse |work|

She is sometimes credited under other names such as Kay Rhea, Thailia Rae, or Tiny Rhea. Distinguishing from Real-World Nursing

She walked out. I listened to her car start, reverse down the driveway, and disappear.

I don’t know if it was the music or her voice or the simple fact of another person staying present in the room while I disintegrated. But the pain did not stop, and yet I stopped fighting it. I breathed. I listened. The wave passed.

Over the months, Thalia revealed herself in fragments. She had been a combat nurse in Fallujah. She had held a nineteen-year-old’s intestines in place with her bare hand while a medevac took forty-five minutes to arrive. She had also held her own mother’s hand as Alzheimer’s erased her, room by room. She had no children, no partner, no pets. “My attachments are to the living moment,” she said. “Makes it easier to leave when the shift ends.”

I hope she is out there somewhere, holding someone else’s hand as they learn the same brutal, beautiful lesson.

If you're lucky enough to have Thalia Rhea as your nurse, consider yourself blessed. I'm so grateful to have her by my side, and I highly recommend her to anyone in need of exceptional care."